Devin Cannady

Magic Sign B.J. Johnson, Waive Devin Cannady

The Magic have waived guard Devin Cannady and filled the newly-opened roster spot by signing free agent wing B.J. Johnson, the team announced today in a press release.

Johnson, who went undrafted out of La Salle in 2018, has appeared in 17 total NBA games with three teams – Atlanta, Sacramento, and Orlando – since going pro, but he has spent most of his career so far in the G League.

Johnson appeared in 67 games for the Lakeland Magic in his first two seasons, averaging an impressive 22.9 PPG, 6.4 RPG, and 2.0 SPG on .458/.417/.786 shooting in 28 NBAGL games (35.9 MPG) in 2019/20. He played for the Long Island Nets in the 2021 G League bubble, then signed with the Brisbane Bullets in April.

Lakeland just acquired Johnson’s G League returning rights from Long Island today in a five-team trade, so it’s a safe bet he’ll be returning to Orlando’s NBAGL affiliate this season. Cannady figures to join him there.

Magic Sign Devin Cannady, Cut Jeremiah Tilmon

The Magic have signed free agent guard Devin Cannady, waiving center Jeremiah Tilmon in order to clear room on their 20-man roster, the team announced today in a press release. While details weren’t disclosed, it figures to be a non-guaranteed camp contract for Cannady.

Undrafted in 2019, Cannady has spent most of his first two professional seasons in the G League. After playing for the Long Island Nets as a rookie, he joined the Magic for training camp in December, then suited up for Orlando’s G League affiliate, the Lakeland Magic, during the 2020/21 “bubble” season.

Cannady’s regular season numbers in 13 games (25.8 MPG) for Lakeland were relatively modest, as he averaged 11.7 PPG, 2.8 RPG, and 2.7 APG. However, the 24-year-old knocked down 40% of his three-point attempts and played a key part in the Magic’s postseason run, scoring 22 points in the team’s NBAGL championship win to earn Finals MVP honors.

That performance earned Cannady a 10-day deal with Orlando and then a two-way contract with the team. However, his season came to an early end in April when he suffered a significant ankle injury and underwent surgery.

It’s unclear when Cannady will be back to 100%, but – like Tilmon – he’s probably not in the mix for a spot on the Magic’s regular season roster at this point anyway. Orlando likely signed him in order to ensure he receives an Exhibit 10 bonus for returning to Lakeland.

The Magic have a full 20-man preseason roster, with 15 players on guaranteed contracts, four on non-guaranteed deals, and one on a two-way pact.

Devin Cannady Undergoes Surgery On Ankle

APRIL 26: The Magic issued an update on Cannady today, announcing in a press release that he underwent a surgical procedure on Monday morning to clean out his ankle.

Although Cannady sustained an open ankle dislocation and a severe lateral sprain, the team said that further X-rays, a CT scan, and an MRI showed that his bones and cartilage remain intact. That’s good news for the rookie guard, who is in a plaster splint and is done for the season but is expected to make a full recovery, according to the club.


APRIL 25: Magic guard Devin Cannady has suffered an open fracture of his right ankle, an injury that will require surgery, the team announced on social media. Cannady sustained the injury during the first quarter of Orlando’s game against Indiana on Sunday night.

Cannady contested a drive and landed awkwardly on his ankle, shouting in agony as he fell near the baseline. No timetable has been issued for the Princeton product, who was stretchered off the floor shortly after sustaining the injury. It’s safe to say his season is over.

Cannady, 24, received G League Finals MVP honors this season with Lakeland. He appeared in seven games with the Magic, playing a total of 73 minutes across those contests. After first signing a 10-day deal with Orlando, he later inked a two-way pact with the club. He and Chasson Randle are the team’s two-way players.

The Magic are 18-41 and eight games behind the No. 10 seed Wizards with just under a month left in the season.

Magic Sign Devin Cannady To Two-Way Deal

Former Princeton guard Devin Cannady is back under contract with the Magic, as the team announced today in a press release that Cannady has rejoined the roster on a two-way contract.

Cannady signed a 10-day deal with Orlando on April 6, but the team ended that contract early in order to make room for another 10-day signing, Donta Hall. Since the Magic waived two-way player Karim Mané around the same time, there was an expectation that Cannady might be brought back to fill the two-way slot formerly held by Mané. Now it’s official.

[RELATED: 2020/21 NBA Two-Way Contract Tracker]

Undrafted in 2019, Cannady has spent most of his first two professional seasons in the G League. After playing for the Long Island Nets as a rookie, he joined the Magic for training camp in December, then suited up for Orlando’s G League affiliate, the Lakeland Magic, during the 2020/21 “bubble” season.

Cannady’s regular season numbers in 13 games (25.8 MPG) for Lakeland were relatively modest, as he averaged 11.7 PPG, 2.8 RPG, and 2.7 APG. However, the 24-year-old knocked down 40% of his three-point attempts and played a key part in the Magic’s postseason run, scoring 22 points in the team’s NBAGL championship win to earn Finals MVP honors.

During his abbreviated 10-day contract with Orlando, Cannady saw limited action in three games, scoring 14 points in 13 total minutes. He and fellow point guard Chasson Randle are now the Magic’s two-way players.

Donta Hall Signs 10-Day Contract With Magic

APRIL 13: The Magic have officially signed Hall to a 10-day contract, the team announced today in a press release. In order to create room for Hall on the 15-man roster, Orlando released Devin Cannady from his 10-day deal, which had been set to expire on Thursday night.

The Magic are also reportedly planning to waive two-way player Karim Mané, so we’ll wait to see if Cannady ends up returning to the team on a two-way contract of his own.


APRIL 9: The Magic will add big man Donta Hall to their roster on a 10-day deal, tweets Shams Charania of The Athletic.

Hall also signed a 10-day contract with the Raptors in February, but didn’t appear in any games for Toronto. He played three games for the Raptors’ G League affiliate in the Orlando “bubble,” along with nine games for G League Ignite, averaging a combined 10.2 points and 8.3 rebounds per night.

The 23-year-old had brief NBA stays last season with the Pistons, who signed him to a pair of 10-day contracts, and the Nets, who added him as a replacement player for the summer restart. Hall played nine total games as a rookie, averaging 4.3 PPG and 4.2 RPG.

Orlando has a roster opening, so it won’t have to make a move before adding Hall. He will earn $99,020 on the 10-day contract.

Magic Notes: Bamba, Birch, Harris, Cannady

The Magic decided to waive Khem Birch on Thursday so they can give more playing time to their two young centers, writes Josh Robbins of The Athletic. The 28-year-old Birch is expected to sign with the Raptors once he clears waivers Saturday, leaving Orlando with Mo Bamba, 22, and newly-acquired Wendell Carter Jr., who will turn 22 next week, as the team’s future in the middle.

Bamba has been slowed by injuries and conditioning concerns since being selected with the sixth pick in the 2018 draft. He was averaging just 12.0 minutes per game this season as the third-string center, but he’ll get a chance to develop his game now that Birch and Nikola Vucevic are both gone.

“It’s the opportunity I’ve been looking for since being drafted, and now is the time to go out there and play and just get better,” Bamba said. “It’s been a difficult road since being drafted, but the time is now and I’m here to seize the opportunity to do more for this team.”

There’s more from Orlando:

  • The Magic were reluctant to part with Birch, who was a team leader and represented one of the best moves by president of basketball operations Jeff Weltman and general manager John Hammond, Robbins adds. Birch went undrafted in 2014 and played in Turkey and Greece before Weltman and Hammond convinced him to try the NBA in 2017. “He’s the guy that when you sit and watch film and you’re breaking down opponents … he’s going to be easy to respect,” coach Steve Clifford said. “He defends fours. He defends fives. He’s a great screener. Coaches constantly ask about him, and he’s a winning player.”
  • Shooting guard Gary Harris appears ready to make his debut for Orlando tonight, tweets Roy Parry of The Orlando Sentinel. Acquired from the Nuggets in the Aaron Gordon trade, Harris has been sidelined since February 17 with an adductor strain. “I’m excited. It’s been a long time coming,” Harris said. “I’ve been around the team for a little bit now, so I’m excited to finally get out there and play with the guys.” (Twitter link)
  • Devin Cannady‘s efforts to reach the NBA paid off this week when he signed a 10-day contract with the Magic. “It’s been a goal of mine to get to this level,” the G League Finals MVP said. “I had a great training camp with them. I love the staff here, the coaching staff and players. I’m excited to get going and be a part of this rebuild for the next 10 days and make the most of this opportunity.” (video link from NBA.com)

Magic Sign Devin Cannady To 10-Day Contract

Free agent guard Devin Cannady has signed a 10-day deal with the Magic, agent Jared Mucha of Excel Sports tells ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link). The club has issued a press release announcing the move.

Cannady, 24, went undrafted out of Princeton in 2019 and has spent the last two seasons in the G League. After playing for the Long Island Nets as a rookie, he joined the Magic for training camp in December, then suited up for Orlando’s G League affiliate, the Lakeland Magic, during the 2020/21 “bubble” season.

Cannady’s regular season numbers in 13 games (25.8 MPG) for Lakeland were relatively modest, as he averaged 11.7 PPG, 2.8 RPG, and 2.7 APG. However, he knocked down 40% of his three-point attempts and played a key part in the Magic’s postseason run, scoring 22 points in the team’s NBAGL championship win to earn Finals MVP honors.

The Magic had an open spot on their 15-man roster, so no corresponding move was required to make room for Cannady. He’ll earn $61,528 during his 10 days with Orlando and should get a chance to make his NBA regular season debut sometime in the next week-and-a-half.

Magic Place Three Players On Waivers

The Magic have waived their three Exhibit 10 players, tweets Josh Robbins of The Athletic. Gone are guard Devin Cannady, forward Robert Franks and center Jon Teske.

The Magic also signed and waived undrafted guard Jeff Dowtin, who averaged 13.9 PPG, 3.5 RPG, and 3.2 APG on .429/.360/.757 as a senior at Rhode Island last season. His very brief stint on the roster was for G League rights purposes.

Orlando is now down to the league limit of 15 players, all with guaranteed contracts, plus two-way players Jordan Bone and Karim Mane.

Cannady was in camp with the Nets last season and played for their G League affiliate in Long Island. Franks divided last year between the Hornets’ and Kings’ teams in the G League. Teske signed with the Magic after going undrafted out of Michigan last month.

Magic Announce Five Free Agent Signings

The Magic have officially announced five free agent signings ahead of the start of training camps next week. Here are the five newly-added players to Orlando’s roster:

Bone and Mane project to fill the Magic’s two-way contract slots to start the season — you can read more about them and Teske in our previous stories on their contract agreements.

Cannady, who went undrafted out of Princeton in 2019, signed with Brooklyn last October, but was only on the roster for three days, allowing the Nets to claim his G League rights. He spent his rookie season with the Long Islands Nets, averaging 14.5 PPG, 4.0 RPG, and 2.6 APG in 39 NBAGL games (30.9 MPG).

As for Franks, he also went undrafted last year – out of Washington State – and spent the season in the G League. The 23-year-old power forward started the 2019/20 campaign on a two-way contract with the Hornets, but never got into an NBA game and was waived in January. He put up 17.3 PPG and 6.5 RPG in 36 G League contests for the Greensboro Swarm and Stockton Kings.

Cannady, Franks, and Teske likely won’t make Orlando’s regular season roster, but appear poised to spending training camp with the club.

Atlantic Notes: Hayward, Sixers, Nets, Leonard, VanVleet

The Celtics announced on Wednesday that forward Gordon Hayward is listed as doubtful for Thursday’s Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals, per Tim Bontemps of ESPN (Twitter link).

As Bontemps points out, this is the first time Hayward has been upgraded from “out” since he suffered a Grade 3 ankle sprain in the first round of the NBA Playoffs. The Celtics replaced Hayward in the starting lineup with Marcus Smart, who is averaging 15.3 PPG, 5.6 RPG, and 4.2 APG.

Here’s more from around the Atlantic Division:

  • After losing the development rights to Penn’s Landing to a rival bidder last week, the Sixers have signaled their dissatisfaction with playing at the Wells Fargo Center, writes Jacob Adelman of The Philadelphia Inquirer. The Sixers want their own arena for a variety of reasons, including the ability to gain schedule flexibility, which they currently do not have. Philadelphia’s lease at the Wells Fargo Center reportedly runs out in 2031. The Inquirer goes on to lists various locations within Philadelphia that the Sixers could use to build their new arena.
  • Long Island Nets guard Devin Cannady spoke with Alex Schiffer of The Athletic about working out with Nets superstars Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving in Los Angeles. The NBA G League guard recalled a game of 2-on-2 where he had trouble defending Irving. Durant stopped the game and instead gave tips Cannady to help him. “If I got the confidence from KD,” Cannady said to Schiffer. “Then I don’t need to hold back anymore at all.” The former Princeton standout also said that Durant looks good and healthy in the workouts.
  • One of the reasons why Kawhi Leonard wanted to go to the Clippers is because he felt the Raptors weren’t good enough to repeat, according to Josh Lewenberg of TSN (Twitter link). The Finals MVP reportedly said this last summer in his meeting with Toronto’s front office. Leonard ultimately ended up signing a three-year deal with Los Angeles and teaming up with Paul George. However, his old team didn’t experience a significant drop-off, finishing with the second-best record in the Eastern Conference and losing in Game 7 of the Eastern Semifinals.
  • With the Raptors’ season coming to an end last week, Blake Murphy of The Athletic explains what it would take to re-sign Fred VanVleet while also maintaining max cap space for the 2021 offseason. VanVleet is set to be an unrestricted free agent and is reportedly expected to receive interest from the Knicks, Pistons, and Suns. Murphy details various scenarios involving OG Anunoby‘s rookie-scale extension, which he is eligible for this offseason, the 2021 free-agent class, and Norman Powell‘s player option.